With mobile RF terminals located on mobile platforms such as aircraft, cruise ships and other moving platforms, communicating with a ground station via a transponded satellite, there is always the remote possibility, in spite of the safeguards that may be built into the mobile terminal, that the terminal may fail in an unanticipated manner. In such event, there is the possibility that the mobile terminal may cause interference with other satellites orbiting in the geo arc adjacent to the target satellite with which the mobile terminal is communicating.
It is also recognized that Fixed Services Satellite (FSS) operators may have difficulty in locating interference from VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) systems that consist of thousands of unsophisticated terminals at remote sites.
Therefore, there exists a need for the ground station in communication with a plurality of mobile terminals via a transponded satellite to be able to quickly identify a malfunctioning mobile terminal which is causing interference with non-target satellites and to quickly resolve the interference incident.